%0 Journal Article %A HAN Zhao-Qing %T Effect of Opening Western Part of Inner Mongolia for Cultivation on Change of Mu Us Desert at the End of the Qing Dynasty %D 2006 %R 10.13249/j.cnki.sgs.2006.06.728 %J SCIENTIA GEOGRAPHICA SINICA %P 728-734 %V 26 %N 6 %X This article tries to restore the scope and location of the reclamation in the middle and south part of the Ordos area including Ejin Horo, Otog, Uxin banners and Ordos downtown area at the end of the Qing Dynasty. Then it compares them with that of today’s Mu Us Desert based on an evidential research of the changes of placenames and administrative divisions, with the materials collected from historical literatures, ancient and contemporary maps and local archives. It concludes that the land opened for cultivation at the end of the Qing Dynasty can be divided into the following tracts: 1) most part of today’s Ordos urban area, 2) the north part of Ejin Horo Banner and the area east to the Ulan Moron River, 3) part of Otog Banner and Taole County of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Some of these regions were located at the edge of the Mu Us Desert while others beyond its scope. Moreover, with an analysis on the background and process of the reclamation, it argues that opening Inner Mongolia for cultivation at the end of the Qing Dynasty has evaded the fragile areas which is vulnerable to desertification. As a result the reclamation at the end of Qing Dynasty hardly play a role in the development of Mu Us Desert. %U http://geoscien.neigae.ac.cn/EN/10.13249/j.cnki.sgs.2006.06.728